Decidedly Curious
by TheEnlightenedDespot
Summary: Two ships collide in slipspace. One vessel is filled with sangheili political dissidents, the other with human refugees. Stranded in an unknown system, the two disparate groups must learn to cooperate. Amidst this two kids from both ships form a cross-species friendship. Rated M for coarse language.
1. Chapter One: A Curious Meeting

**UNSC Arkship-1. July 5th, 2547.**

Deck forty was always a cacophony of noise. Being the center of all incoming and outgoing space traffic for the stranded Arkship-1, such chaos was to be expected. The deck was filled to the brim with various types of pelicans and phantoms. The latter were usually given a much wider birth by human maintenance workers. This was to be expected, however, as it was only five months ago that a chance collision forced them to work with a species formerly regarded as their enemy.

None of this crossed the mind of one Sangheili child sitting atop stacked purple crates observing all she saw below. Standing at a mere five feet two inches and wearing simple tan pants and a green T-shirt, twelve year old Rhea 'Kusoam was an unusual example of her people. She possessed striking orange eyes, light gray skin with spots of darker tones (which she would always insist was just a trick of the light), and a more triangular torso and less defined musculature as was typical for her gender; however, it wasn't her physical appearance which was unusual about her. No. It was her intense curiosity, fierce disposition, and intelligence which set her apart.

She quite liked deck forty. Whenever she had the opportunity to observe the deck she took it. It was nothing like the hangar on her equally stranded home ship, Light of the Ancestors. Here everything was less formal, and more hurried. Here she was free to watch without many people paying her mind. Here she had an opportunity to examine a rather fascinating species, humans. They were a bit of a conundrum to her.

She regarded them as walking seemed to have the ability to possess incompatible traits. Brave one moment and cowardly the next. Obnoxiously inconsistent is what her swordmaster called them. Her swordmaster was someone she regarded highly. He was why she had a chance to watch deck 40. He was a member of some important board, so he often had to travel to Arkship-1. Frustratingly, he refused to go into detail about what he did; moreover, he knew how curious she could get.

She knew he got some form of amusement out of her frustration, even if he never laughed. One time when he caught her snooping around trying to figure out his job, she thought she saw a slight upturn of his mandibles before he scolded her. Later, she decided it was her imagination when she was left cleaning her quarters with a human toothbrush as punishment for her indiscretion. Why he even owned such an implement was beyond her.

Rhea's attention was dragged away from an outbound phantom by an interaction she noticed out of the corner of her eye. A human boy, dressed in jeans and a black button up shirt, had just emerged from behind a military-green pelican. He was panting in exertion. With his hands on his knees, he bent down and took a moment to catch his breath before hurriedly looking up and checking his surroundings. What was he watching for? She thought he looked about her age and height, though it was hard to tell from such distance. She shifted her body to take a better look.

This caught his attention and the two locked eyes. He had blue eyes, she noted. He was caucasian and brown haired as well. Nothing was remarkable about him, that is until he grinned at her and waved. None of them had ever done that before. She tilted her head in curiousity and waved back. This had to be studied further. She gestured at him to come closer. With another glance at his surroundings, and with a hesitant first step, he was walking towards her.

He crossed the two dozen or so meters between them with an awkward clumsiness the likes of which Rhea had never seen. Dodging other humans and skittering around oil spills, he seemed _very_ out of his element. Whatever his element was. She wasn't sure if he had one. When he finally arrived there was awkward silence, neither party knew how to proceed.

"_Hi. I'm Ian." _he mumbled. It would have been an unremarkable greeting to go with an unremarkable appearance if not for the fact it was in Sangheili. Rhea gaped for a few moments before replying.

"_Rhea,"_ she paused to consider her next few words. "_You speak Sangheili?"_

Ian scratched the back of his head. "_A bit. It's...crude though."_ Even learning a bit of Sangheili was difficult for a human. Imitating the sounds, while possible, was very difficult and took a great deal of vocal control. Similarly Sangheili could imitate human sounds if they learned to manipulate their mandibles properly; however, most just resorted to moving their mandibles with their hands.

To think he spoke as well as he did...It had only been five months. Three since the compact. Surely he hadn't gotten the pronunciation down well enough that quickly?

"_I'm a...I don't know the Sangheili word for it…_ a polyglot." He answered, her unasked question apparently clear on her face.

"I imagine that means you're good with languages?" Rhea replied. It was Ian's turn to gape at her display of English. She smugly answered the question on his face, as he had before her. "There is no Sangheili word for it, but I'm the same. I've been learning longer though."

"So you have," Ian replied, switching to English. It was then that Rhea noticed their odd speaking arrangement. She was seated much higher than him, so he was left straining his neck and staring up at her.

"Why don't you join me up here?" she offered. He looked at the tower of crates a bit hesitantly. Rhea scoffed. "You'll be fine. I'll even help you. Look." She offered her hand down to him. With a huff, he grabbed her outstretched hand and was pulled up alongside her.

"So, what are you doing here?" Ian asked, after a brief pause. Rhea turned slightly to meet his gaze. She was pleased to note that he was slightly shorter than her.

"I like to watch this deck," she replied. She returned her eyes to the incoming and outgoing ships. "And you?"

"Well," he scratched the back of his head again."I'm sort of...avoiding a group." His careful wording wasn't lost on Rhea.

"Avoiding or hiding?" He cringed at her bluntness.

"Hiding," he replied meekly, secretly glad he wasn't looking at her. She would surely have noticed his slight blush.

"Why?" she asked simply.

"They're bullies."

"Bullies?" she replied, unfamiliar with the term. Her eyes didn't leave the ships.

"Bullies are, uh, well, they're hard to explain. They like making others feel bad with talking or fighting. They find it fun."

"So, why don't you stop them?" she said as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Then again, it probably would be for her.

"I don't like to fight."

"Because you're not good at it?"

Ian was getting angry now. "It's not like we can all be fighters!"

"Why not?" she said, glancing back at him. Her replies reminded Ian of a child constantly asking "why" of their parents, and it was just as infuriating.

"We don't all get the opportunity to be taught how to fight, do we?" He gestured at the training sword at her belt. "It's easier for an apprentice like you to say we should all be fighters."

Rhea felt a slight pang of guilt, but was more surprised that he knew what her sword meant. How did he know that? No human knew that. It added more mystery to the puzzle that was Ian.

"I guess it is," was all she said in reply. She looked away again. Ian crossed his arms and did the same. A few minutes went past without either speaking a word.

He sighed. "I'm sor-" he started, but was abruptly cut off when a loud bang echoed throughout the hangar.

"What are you stupid kids doing!" a shrill, distinctly feminine, voice cried out. Both Rhea and Ian looked around, thinking the comment was directed at them. Simultaneously, both their eyes caught the commotion below them. A group of three adolescent boys were guiltily surrounding a toppled box near the pelican where Ian came from. Spilling out of it was unrefined minerals. They must have been gathered from the asteroid field near the marooned ships.

"Uh, sorry," the biggest child of the three said. He was a beefy child for his age, with strength derived more from his weight than anything else. The voice from before, a visibly annoyed black woman in a marine uniform, came around the ship and eyed the boys. She sighed.

"Just scram, " she said before she started intelligibly grumbling as she stooped down to pick up the rocks. The boys backed up slowly, apparently under the impression that speed would change her mind about letting them go, and carefully walked away. In Ian and Rhea's direction.

Rhea looked away from the boys to Ian. "You were sayi-" she began before she noticed his expression. He was visibly worried and sweating a bit. He wasn't meeting her gaze either. Rhea turned around to see what he was looking at. It was the group of boys, and they were advancing on them now. The beefy one was leading the other two kids. They all looked about Ian's age, and the two trailing behind the leader were similar to Ian in appearance but with green and brown eyes respectively instead of blue.

Was this the group Ian was talking about before? She didn't have a chance to ask him before the three were upon them. The big one spoke up first.

"Hiding here again, huh, loser? And with a Sangheili too?" he spat "I guess you can't have human friends, so you talk with split lips instead?" Rhea growled at him, her mandibles threateningly opened up. Ian's eyes seemed to blaze in anger at the racial epithet.

"Fuck off, Chad," Ian said.

"Oh, brave now 'cause you think your friend can protect you? We outnumber you three to one since you don't even count as a figh-" he was cut off as Rhea jumped off the boxes and tackled Chad to the ground. Anyone could see the raw fear in his eyes before Rhea landed.

With a yelp he tried scrambling back, but Rhea grabbed his legs before he could flee. His two lackeys started hesitantly advancing on Rhea, but one was taken down as Ian copied Rhea's leap. Ian was less successful, however, as his victim managed to free himself after he landed two awkward punches. The third boy was unsure of what to do as the other backed up into him.

As this was going on, Rhea growled in the face of the beefy kid. He was shouting now, and fruitlessly failing his arms and legs in an attempt to escape Rhea's grip. With a yell the third boy charged forward, intent on dragging Rhea off his friend. He was stopped by Ian who dived, grabbed him by the legs, and brought him to the ground. Unlike the last boy Ian quickly let go, and let the boy scramble away.

The second boy, still recovering, started backing up from the fight. The commotion was now getting the attention of others in the hangar. Ian, noticing the disgusted looks mainly aimed Rhea's way, got up and walked behind her. He grabbed her shoulder in order to get her attention.

"He's not worth it," he muttered. Rhea, with a huff, got up and started dusting off her pant legs.

"He said I wasn't able to fight him. I proved him wrong," she replied still staring at the terrified boy. He hadn't moved since Rhea got off of him. She looked away to meet Ian's eyes."I thought you said you weren't a fighter?" she asked.

"_I'm not_," he mumbled in reply. He stared down at his shoes to avoid her gaze. Choosing to ignore his shift in languages, she looked back down at the boy who was awkwardly trying to stand. He was looking around for his 'friends', but they were nowhere to be found. They had run off.

Rhea stepped forward and planted her feet on the boys chest, forcing him back to the ground. "Not so tough anymore, huh?" she mocked.

"Fuck you, you fucking spli-" he was cut off with a gasp as Rhea put more pressure on his chest.

"Hey!" a gruff voice called out. "What the hell are you doing!?" A male pelican pilot was jogging towards woman from earlier trailing behind him. It took Ian a few seconds to realize this was a bad situation, real bad. The pilot was Murphey, prejudice bastard extraordinaire who was responsible for several different diplomatic incidents. He was in his late 60s, and apparently served in the Human-Covenant war since the beginning. Old habits died hard it seemed.

"Get off him!" he shouted, angrily wrenching Rhea off the boy and throwing her back before she could react. Worse, Chad was his grandson..

"The hell are you doing to my boy!" Rhea's eyes widened in surprise as she too realized the gravity of the situation. She still chose the worst possible reply anyway.

"Your dumb kid wanted to fight me _you stupid prick,"_ she spat out, devolving to Sangheili near the end. Murphy started to reach towards the gun at his belt, eyes blazing, and cheeks red. I jumped in front of Rhea, who was frozen in indecision, with my arms raised.

"Stop!" I shouted. The surrounding deck was completely silent now, an antsy audience circled them now with worry etched on their collective faces. Murphy was still reaching for his gun, but the woman behind him finally caught up and grabbed his arm.

"Stop, Murph!" she angrily whispered.

Another voice joined the conflict. This one was deep, baritone, and distinctly Sangheili. "I would suggest following her advice." Murphy stopped struggling to pull the gun out of his holster. A low murmur could be heard from the crowd.

I looked to the voice. Where did he come from? The Sangheili was massive, at least eight feet tall. His hand was hovering over the energy sword at his hip, and his shields were flaring seemingly in anticipation of being shot at. He looked somewhat like Rhea, Ian realized. He had orange eyes too, and a similar skin tone but with more darker spots. He wore blood crimson armor, but was without a helmet. The armor was spotted with several blew lights along the torso, and a black undersuit sat beneath the red plates. He was also much more intimidating and muscular. A sword scar across one of his mandibles attested to his combat experience. His name was Voru 'Vadamai.

He was not someone Ian ever wanted to fight, and Ian pitied Murphy for a few brief seconds before deciding Murphy brought this on himself. Rhea stepped around Ian, and patted his shoulder in thanks. He lowered his arms.

"_Swordmaster,"_ she said tilting her head down slightly. The large Sangheili only looked at Rhea for a few seconds before turning back to woman still hadn't let go of his arm, and Murphy was now glaring daggers into the Sangheili.

"Your animosity is unwarranted, Human," Voru said softly.

"Unwarranted!?" Murphy shouted, spittle flying out of his mouth. "She attacked my grandson!"

"She would not do so without reason."

"Pfft! And what reason does your kind need? The words of some fucked up prophets?" Voru showed no visible response to the insults as Sangheili in the crowd growled walked up to Murphy.

"We never followed the Prophets, human," he replied before wrenching the pistol out of his grip. With an ease revealing practice he released the clip from the pistol, racked back the slide allowing an unfired round to pop out, and threw the gun to the ground. He turned around and started walking towards Rhea and Ian. Chad started whimpering and backed up, his back slamming into the crates behind him making them rattle slightly.

Voru looked at Ian for a long moment, seeming to seize him up. Ian gulped slightly, and couldn't help but fidget under the Sangheili's gaze. He never looked away from his eyes though. Apparently satisfied, Voru shifted his gaze to Rhea. Unlike Ian she didn't fidget, instead she glared back fiercely. Voru sighed..

"You need to stop finding trouble," he said simply. He turned back to Ian. "I suppose I should commend you, human. What is your name?"

"Ian Dunn," Ian replied.

"Hmm. I shall remember that," is all Voru said in response. He turned around and started walking away. "_Come, Rhea. We are done here._" Ian seemed to consider something for a moment. He then decided to speak up.

"_Wait, sir. What is your name?" _Voru expressed no surprise at hearing his own language, but he stopped nevertheless.

"_The correct form of address is Swordmaster. You would do well to remember that. Others of my rank would take it as an insult to be called otherwise."_ Ian gulped. Voru started walking away again, and Rhea trailed behind him.

"_Voru 'Vadamai," _he said, before disappearing into a Phantom. Rhea took one last glance at Ian, grinned (a slight upturn of the mandibles), before following her swordmaster. As the Phantom's door started to close, and it's engines flared, Ian was left with an overwhelming feeling of curiosity. He wanted to know more about Rhea and her guardian.

Ian walked away with a slight spring in his step as Murphy kneeled next to his scared grandson. Before taking the elevator he left Chad with a churlish grin and a middle finger. He didn't care about the inevitable reprisal.

[-O-O-O-]

Ian's quarters were unlike any other on the ship. It was surprisingly large for being on a space faring vessel, but with millions of square meters to spare Arkship-1 didn't need to make compromises in accommodating its relatively few passengers.

His allocated space, divided into a bedroom, living room, and bathroom wasspartan. Its walls were adorned with nothing but the bolts securing gunmetal gray panels to the walls, and the 'windows' (in reality high quality screens designed to prevent cabin fever) were turned off. The only remarkable feature of the room was the wooden desk, and chair, occupying the bedroom. Both were gifts from Arkship-1's resident Artificial Intelligence to his "incredibly gifted student."

Arkship-1's AI and Ian had an unusual relationship. Coming on four years of age, the AI ,named Helios after the greek sun god, insisted on teaching a select group of kids the Sangheili language since "he wasn't going to always be around to translate for them." It was the AI which greeted Ian when he entered his quarters.

"Hello, Ian! I see you had an interesting day." Helios had an incredibly bubbly personality, and was often described as bright as the sun as a result. Helios loved the description. It was how he decided on his name.

"You saw that then?" Ian asked. Helios didn't have cameras all over the ship. Most were disabled out of necessity, as humans weren't comfortable being monitored 24/7. They only covered vital parts of Arkship-1. The camera, microphone, and speakers which Helios had access to in Ians quarters could be disabled by unplugging them too.

"Of course! Deck forty is too important to leave unmonitored. Though I'm sure you knew that."

"What did you think?" Ian asked.

"I was worried! Murphy has been identified as an unstable personality for some time."

"Why is he always on deck forty then?"

"His engineering skills are too valuable to let go, " Helios' avatar, a fluctuating glowing star, shrank down slightly at this statement.

"Enough to overlook...that?"

"More then enough, I'm afraid," the avatar shrqnk down even further, then it suddenly burst back to its regular size. "I can make up for it though!"

"Can you?" Ian asked, skeptical.

"Yep! Rhea 'Kusoam is her full name! She's your age and apprenticed under Voru 'Vadamai" Helios's avatar was positively glowing now. "She's an interesting one, isn't she?"

Ian walked over to his bedroom, and tapped the panel to open his door. He shuffled inside and plopped down into his chair before replying. "Yeah. She is."

[-O-O-O-]

**Author's Notes:** I'd love any feedback, be it on grammar, syntax, word choice, etc. I really want to make this the best story it can be, and your guys's reviews is one way of doing that. I'm particularly concerned about the way I went about describing characters, so any words on that front would be appreciated.

I understand this story isn't everyones cup of tea, since it consists entirely of original characters. I was also a bit skeptical of how I went about introducing this story. I decided to plop the audience right into the setting without much explanation, since I feel it is more interesting to learn things along the way instead of being forced to plow through dull exposition. Though this may not be effective when the main characters aren't similarly ignorant. Feedback on the merits of this particular strategy are appreciated as well.

This was a blast to write, and I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did creating it.


	2. Chapter Two: Chasing After

**UNSC Arkship-1. July 7th, 2547.**

Though he didn't realize it, Ian Dunn was trying to replicate the circumstances of two days ago. As such, he was sitting atop an abandoned pile of crates overlooking the chaos of deck forty. It wasn't any different from the day he first ran into Rhea. The hustle and bustle was the same. The ships were the same. The workers were the same. It didn't _feel_ the same though. Not to Ian.

His perspective on deck forty had shifted dramatically from two days ago. Previously it has been a sort of refuge. It provided plenty of places to hide. Now? It was much the same, but with a mystery attached: Rhea 'Kusoam and Voru 'Vadamai. He could have known everything there was to know about the two if he had just asked Helios, but Ian rejected his offer of information. That was too easy.

All he had figured out, from the mutterings of dock workers concerning "the incident" as it was being called, was that Voru was a member of the Resource Allocation and Collection Committee. RACC was a committee composed of an equal number of elected representatives from both Arkship-1 and Light of the Ancestors. It was in charge of collecting and distributing all new resources jointly gathered from the asteroids surrounding the wrecks of the two ships, and had been established by the Arkship-Light of Ancestors Compact (or ALA Compact for short).

Rhea, Ian knew from his cultural discussions with Helios, had to be an apprentice under Voru. That was the only way someone her age could have a sword. It would also explain her presence on the docks, and why Voru stepped in for her. This information was all irrelevant if he couldn't run into them again, so he was sitting on crates observing deck forty. He knew Voru had to return for RACC business at some point. It was just a matter of time.

[-O-O-O-]

**UNSC Arkship-1. July 8th, 2547.**

Ian Dunn was leaning oagainst a supporting pillar in deck forty, and he was fast asleep with his hands loosely clutching a datapad resting on his lap. The pad had long since turned off from inactivity. The roar of incoming and outgoing engines didn't seem to disturb Ian in the slightest, but strangely when a person slumped next to him he was jolted from his slumber.

He blearily opened his eyes and glanced over to the person. His eyes shot open immediately when he realized who it was.

"Hey_,"_ the person next to him said.

"Hey," Ian replied. "I'm surprised you're back so quickly, Rhea." Rhea looked much the same as she had before. Her orange eyes seemed a bit cloudier though, and she came across as more mellow. It perturbed Ian. Though he had only interacted with her for a handful of minutes it seemed so off for her.

"Me too." Ian raised his eyebrow in response.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rhea asked, confused at the facial expression.

"It depends, I guess. It can mean many things. In this case it's sort of like a question."

"Of course it can," Rhea sighed. "I'm here because I apparently need to."

"Apparently?" Ian asked.

"Apparently." Rhea replied.

"I don't mean to be rude, but you seem a bit...different today."

"_Tired._"

"_Tired? It's not that late."_ Ian decided not to address the switch to Sangheili. Maybe she didn't know the word, or couldn't be bothered to recall it.

Rhea simply tilted her head, and attempted to raise one of her eye ridges. She failed miserably; however, Ian understood the gesture, and pulled his datapad out of his lap. He cursed when he read the time. 10PM. How long was he asleep?

"_It was later than I realized,"_ he said. He looked back up after not getting a response. She was fast asleep. So much for asking her questions. Ian took the chance to look back out to the deck. Things had died down a bit, though not by much. There was no real 'day' on Arkship-1, but the ship's lights tended to follow a day-night cycle for "psychological" reasons according to Helios. Ian didn't quite know what that meant, and Helios said it was a bit too complicated to explain. Instead Helios just said "human brains are weird."

Ian could definitely agree with that. Rhea shifted slightly in her sleep. She must have been quite tired to sleep here of all places. Rhea couldn't have felt _that_ comfortable where she had almost gotten shot few days ago. Ian took the chance to examine her properly. He hadn't gotten that good a glimpse the other day.

Despite not being human she did have an odd air of femininity about her. Ian chalked it up to the differences between her male peers and her. There wasn't any single feature that set female sangheili apart from males, instead there was a collection of features that set them apart: narrower shoulders, higher pitched voices, shorter heights, less defined muscles, and more triangular torsos. There was no breast equivalent for sangheili, so a masculine sangheili female could more easily pass off as a male than could other species.

Rhea's skin was rather unique. It was a blend of darker and lighter skin tones. It wasn't spotted, rather it was somewhat reminiscent of urban warfare camouflage. Ian could imagine this allowing ancient sangheili to blend into the shadows more easily.

"_You made a good impression. Not many do that,"_ Ian jumped slightly at Rhea's unexpected speech.. He looked away guiltily. It felt weird staring at someone who was sleeping. Especially when it turned out they weren't actually sleeping. It took a few seconds for Ian to register her words.

"_A good impression?"_ he asked.

"_On my sword master, and the other sangheili too. Not many would have done what you did," _Rhea replied with her eyes still closed.

"_Oh," _Ian scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "_It was my fault anyway."_ Rhea tried raising her eyebrow ridges again. It was slightly better this time, but the movement was still clearly foreign to her.

"_I dragged you into that," _Ian clarified.

"_How so? I started it."_

"_Well_, " Ian struggled to find the words in Sangheili before switching to English. "His target wasn't-" Rhea interrupted him before he could finish.

"Why do you insist you aren't a fighter? You jumped on a kid too, and you stepped in front of a gun!" she finished heatedly. Ian started fiddling with his datapad, clearly uncomfortable.

"I," he started. Why was he even going to tell her this? "Last time I defended myself I hurt someone. Real bad. It's different when I'm defending someone else. With myself I have a choice, but with others…" he trailed off.

"Oh," was all Rhea said. She was brought back to almost a year ago when her home was besieged by fanatical supporters of the prophets. Her keep had failed to recognize the prophets' authority, so they sent warriors to show there would be consequences. Severe ones. That was the first and only time she was forced to kill someone. Rhea didn't like to think about it.

After the incident she refused to pick up a weapon. She was regarded as an outcast among her own keep. Liberal as they were, what they saw as cowardice would never be tolerated. That was when Voru 'Vadamai stepped in. He was a visiting swordmaster present to negotiate on behalf of an alliance of keeps similarly opposed to the prophets. When others saw cowardice, Voru saw one aware of the value of life. To the shock of the keep he took her under his tutelage, and eventually she got over her fears. To an extent.

Rhea stood up abruptly. "How about a race?" She needed to get away from her thoughts, and she was just going to fall asleep sitting there.

"A race?" Ian asked skeptically. If there was one thing he was good at, it was running. He had plenty of experience with it after all, but he wasn't sure if he even had a chance to beat Rhea.

"To the end of the deck," Rhea replied.

"The end of the deck?" Ian stood up and looked to where she meant. "That's like a thousand meters!"

"You'll have the advantage then." Rhea grinned before taking off. Ian shook his head and stowed his datapad away. How would he have the advantage, even in running? Ian thought back to something he didn't often, Skopje. It was his home before the Covenant forced him, and every other living thing, off it. He couldn't say he had fond memories of the planet. It wasn't very different from the Arkship for him. Kids were the same wherever he went it seemed.

One thing he liked about the planet was the space. Though it was an inner colony, it boasted a relatively small population; therefore, there was plenty of free space for running. Running was something Ian forced himself to find enjoyment in. He had to do it all the time after-all, but fortunately those he had to run from were usually slower. Usually. Ian refocused on the "track". He had a race to win.

Deck forty wasn't suited for running. It was cramped, slick, and filled with rather nasty obstacles (the most annoying being the people). The entire deck reeked of sweat, oil, and ship exhaust. All the fumes lended to a certain atmosphere, one which felt offensive to the lungs and made it difficult to breath. He'd have to make due though. He took off after Rhea. She already had the advantage of a head start.

Ian kept to a relatively straight path. The clearest shot through the hangar was right down the center. It was free of ships and most other clutter, but it had a lot more people. They were easier to get around though. A few angry shouts and yells followed in his wake as he dodged around and through the mixed crowd. He gave the few Sangheili a wider berth than his own species. It wasn't worth offending them. They'd get a bit more physical than a few shouts.

Ian's lungs gulped in the repugnant air as his feet pounded a steady rhythm into the metal deck. Despite the lackluster environment he couldn't help but let a grin spread across his face. This was _his_ domain. The wind and annoyed cries whipped past his face as he continued running. A ship took off to his left, and Ian was tripped up slightly by the backblast. His eyes widened minutely as he realized he was pushed right into the path of a moving trolley filled with boxes. With a yelp he dodged further to the left and narrowly avoided the cart. He moved back onto his path a moment later. The trolley pusher was oblivious to the near collision.

Ian had already covered half the thousand meters, and he still hadn't caught a glimpse of Rhea. How far ahead was she? He abruptly stopped. His answer was sitting atop a pile of crates just like the day he first met her. What? She looked down at him.

"_For someone who_ _normally moves so awkwardly, you're rather quick,"_ Rhea said.

Ian caught his breath for a few moments before replying. "_Awkwardly?"_

"_You don't seem to know where to put your feet,"_ she glanced away from Ian at inbound Phantom. Obnoxiously inconsistent, she thought, and peered back down to Ian. Her eyes narrowed slightly. Ian suddenly had the strangest feeling he was being stared down like prey. "_Except when running."_

"_This isn't the end of the deck,"_ Ian replied. Rhea hmpf'd, apparently disappointed at him changing the topic, and leapt from her spot on top the crates. Ian flashed back to a few days ago when Rhea tackled Chad from a similar spot. It was strangely graceful. If that was her basis of comparison for motion, he could why she'd consider his movement awkward. She landed in front of Ian, who jumped back slightly in surprise.

Rhea tilted her head slightly and stared directly into Ian's eyes. "_Are you sure?"_

"_Sure? Of course I'm sure!"_

Rhea glanced around for a few moments before meeting Ian's eyes again. "_This looks like the end to me."_

Ian looked around too. Everything around them was practically indistinguishable from the rest of deck forty: the people, the ships, the mess, the atmosphere. One thing was certain, it was nowhere near the end of the deck.

"_We're nowhere near the end!"_

"_What is the end anyway?"_

"_It's...just the end?" _Ian suddenly had a hunch. "_You're imitating him, aren't you?"_

"_Him?"_ Rhea asked, though her grin revealed that she knew what he was getting at. Voru 'Vadamai. Ian rolled his eyes in response. Rhea abruptly stumbled backwards. "_What was that!?"_ she shouted.

Ian stared at her for a few moments. "_What are you - _Oh! The eyeroll!" Rhea stepped back towards him and leaned forward to examine his eyes.

"_Are you okay?" _Ian looked at her dumbly for a few seconds before he burst out laughing. A few people looked over at the curious interaction between the two. A resounding thud echoed throughout the hanger as another Pelican landed. Ian kept laughing through all of it. Rhea started glaring five seconds in. "Sorry," Ian began but quickly succumbed back to laughter. "It's - It's not you," Ian finished, gasping for breath.

"_Then what was it?"_ she replied. Her eyes were narrowed, but there was a bit more of a hostile air around her than before. The laughter reminded her of shortly after the attack on the keep. So much for escaping her thoughts.

"It's just, eyerolls are so common. Your reaction was...funny?" Ian cringed slightly, and hoped the explanation was adequate. He forced himself to maintain eye contact. It was much more important to sangheili than humans. Rhea's eyes bored into his. He could practically see the cogs in her head turning and processing his response.

"_Okay_," she replied before promptly twirling around to face the boxes. Awkward silence was all there was for a few seconds. Rhea turned back around looking like she was about to say something then stopped herself.

"_It's definitely not the end, though_," Ian said. He thought he saw Rhea grin for a tick, but it quickly faded.

"_I guess not,"_ she replied. Her eyes avoided his. She felt as dissimilar from her swordmaster as she could possibly be in that moment. Her mandibles drooped slightly and turned inwards. Ian noticed the downcast expression.

"_I'm sorry. I don't know how I _-" Rhea cut him off.

"_It's not you fault. You just...reminded me of something. Something I'd rather forget."_

"_Oh. I know what you mean," _Ian replied. Rhea looked up. Fire blazed in her eyes. She was about to launch on a tirade about he knew nothing, but then she remember something Ian said. _Last time I defended myself I hurt someone. Real bad. _The fire died, and she let out a sigh.

"_I guess you do."_ Ian looked properly chagrined at his comment, and scratched the back of his head as he peered down at his sneakers They were aged, stained a sickly brown color, and falling apart at the seams. He'd need a new pair soon. Could he even get a new pair?

"_I never did thank you properly. Swordmaster Vadamai would be angry if I missed the chance again. Thanks."_ Ian briefly wondered how similar he and Rhea were to his shoes. They weren't entirely held together, were they? Ian was forced out of his musings by Rhea's expectant gaze.

"_It was my fight. You got involved because of me. It's not like I could have let you...well you know."_

"_Get shot?" _she replied bluntly.

"_Uh, yeah." _Rhe looked over Ian's shoulder at the curious eyes of several dock workers which continued to watch their conversation. Did they have nothing better to do?

"_C'mon,"_ she grabbed his wrist "_I don't like getting stared at." _After a few protestations he reluctantly trailed after her. She let go of his wrist when it became clear he was following after her. The pair pushed back into the more crowded center path, and weaved through the throngs of people.

"_Why'd you stop anyway?"_ he asked.

"_I was curious." _Rhea replied, a bit difficult to hear in the crowd.

"_Curious?"_ he asked. Ian determinedly avoided the eyes of people who were gaping at him for speaking in sangheili, to a sangheili no less. Because clearly the kids nearly everyone knew were being taught the language wouldn't want to actually use it.

"_If you were any good, of course."_

"_At running?" _Ian gave a wide berth to a particularly nasty looking man holding a wrench. He didn't seem happy with the company Ian was keeping if his glare was anything to go many murpheys were on this ship?

"_Yes. What else?"_

"_Couldn't you have known that if I had won?" _

Rhea let out a snort. "_You wouldn't have."_

"_Hey! I pride myself on my running. And didn't you say I had the advantage?"_

"_I...exaggerated a bit," _Rhea replied_. "Humans are better endurance runners. Sangheili are better sprinters."_

"_A thousand more meters and I could have won then?"_ Ian asked.

"_Maybe."_ Ian didn't look convinced, neither did Rhea. The crowds were starting to thin now as they approached the end of the deck. Fewer and fewer ships were occupying the designated landing spots around them. Rhea looked around and then stopped. She then speedily grabbed Ian's wrist and ducked behind a pile of crates. He let out a yelp at the unexpected act.

"_Stop doing that!"_ he cried out. Rhea let go of his wrist and he quickly pulled it out of her reach. He started nursing it and experimentally moved it around.

"_I've only done it twice, and you're just not quick enough,"_ she replied stubbornly."_And don't yell. We don't need to attract any more attention than we already do." _

Ian responded with a glare to which Rhea replied with a grin. Ian rolled his eyes again causing Rhea to balk. He smiled at her reaction. Rhea turned around and peeked back over the boxes. Apparently satisfied she turned back around and rested her back against the pile. Ian sat down next to her,

"_You're going to have to get used to that you know." _Rhea just grumbled a bit in reply. They were both interrupted by a shrill beep emanating from Rhea's waist.

"_Now?"_ she whined as she plucked a rectangular purple object from her belt. Ian looked curiously at the device. It somewhat resembled a phone, but it seemed designed to clip onto mandibles when needed. She tapped a button on the object and Voru's distinctive voice started to come out of it.

"_I'm done with my business, Rhea. I'll need you back at the Phantom shortly. I have some news to share with you."_ Voru's command apparently begged no comment, as the communication ended after that.

"_I guess this is a goodbye then?"_ Ian asked. There was clearly disappointment in his voice. Rhea studied him for a few seconds before replying.

"_Nah. I have a feeling we'll run into each other again."_

"_I'll..,"_ Ian struggled to find the words. "_See you later then?"_

"_Exactly," _she grinned and took off without another word. Ian looked back down to his decaying shoes. Maybe he could fix them instead of replace them.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Feedback on writing, characters, etc. is always appreciated in reviews (anonymous or otherwise).

I'm quite fond of this chapter in particular. I feel like it establishes a fairly solid foundation for the beginnings of an exploration into Rhea/Ian's characters and backgrounds. It was dialogue heavy, and light on the 'action', but I hope the interactions between Rhea and Ian were enough to draw people in. As always I hope you readers enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.


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